NBA Coaches to Wear Microphones

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/columnist/hiestand-tv/2007-12-04-nba-microphones_N.htm

By Michael Hiestand
USA TODAY

The NBA this week debuts the most-aggressive attempt by any league — short of NASCAR — to let TV eavesdrop on its players and coaches.

Viewers will even get to peek into locker rooms via networks' embedded robotic cameras. Those unmanned cameras can be directed to pan, tilt and zoom after media members are required to leave locker rooms 45 minutes before tip-off — and can shoot at halftime and postgame. The first games with broader access are prime time NBA doubleheaders on TNT Thursday and ESPN Friday.

Networks have rarely miked NBA players in the past, but will now be able to ask them to do it on a regular basis — with the player having the choice to decline.

NBA coaches won't get that luxury. For the first time in a major sport, coaches will have to wear mikes — and be required to do TV interviews during games.

"You're kidding me," said ABC/ESPN lead NBA analyst Jeff VanGundy Tuesday, after being told about the new policies that the league hasn't formally announced. "And head coaches are really going to have to do TV interviews during games?"

Yes, they will. And Van Gundy, who coached the Houston Rockets and New York Knicks, will work the first ESPN game — Chicago Bulls-Detroit Pistons Friday — with the new access. And at least one NBA coach who's spoken publicly about the changes — Chicago's Scott Skiles — will be there, too. They're "unnecessary," Skiles told the Illinois Daily Herald, adding that "I'm told to do it, so I do it." But players, he said, might not be "comfortable being frank with coaches" if their words could get replayed on TV.

Not to worry, says ESPN producer Tim Corrigan. Only taped comments from mikes on players and coaches — never live audio — will end up on air, which is the norm in most sports where players or coaches are miked. (An exception: Viewers have listened in to live TV microphones on WNBA coaches.) And NBA staffers will be on hand in the TV production trucks, says Corrigan, to "screen" audio — "we have no interest in putting anybody in a bad light."

The new access is part of the overall TV sports trend in making viewers feel like insiders. Says Turner Sports senior vice president Jeff Behnke: "We hope to capture the raw emotions on the floor and give fans a closer look at NBA personalities."

Says NBA spokesman Mike Bass: "This is a collaborative effort between the NBA, the coaches association and the coaches themselves and our network partners to bring fans as close to the game as possible."

Networks also won't be allowed to use their locker room cameras to report on game strategies — they'll be directed to turn away from blackboard chalk talk — and their interviews with coaches won't just happen anytime — they'll be taped during TV timeouts.

But making coaches wear mikes could produce protest. While Major League Baseball managers now commonly wear mikes — and sometimes do TV interviews during games — it's voluntary. NFL coaches are required to be miked one game each season, but only for NFL Films — not by networks — for use at a later date.

Van Gundy, while coaching the Knicks in 2000, refused to wear a TV mike when the NBA (briefly) tried to force them on coaches. At the time, Van Gundy said it was "too intrusive" and an attempt by the NBA to "totally bully" coaches — and that the league office needed someone to "stand up for the game and not sell out to the business side all the time."

Van Gundy, who also worked as a TNT NBA analyst, now says he knows the NBA and networks "want to get as much bang for their buck as possible." But he suggests it'd be more productive to let coaches volunteer to wear mikes — "that's where you'd get your best information." He understands players and coaches could worry on-court comments could somehow become public — "mistakes happen, and you'd hope those mistakes don't violate somebody's privacy."

ESPN's Corrigan says the placement of locker room cameras will depend on layouts of each room, but "we don't want them to stand out like a sore thumb."

Van Gundy, however, suggests "there should be some sanctuary for players and coaches. … As announcers, would we want cameras in hotels when we're getting dressed? Just because it's interesting doesn't mean it's right."

 

this makes me really wish they did this while jvg was at the helm. he would give great in-game interviews, and would probably say outrageous things knowing he was mic'd up and not liking it.

just saw george karl's mandatory interview. he is a boring conversation waiting to happen. adelman is too.